


When You're Gone

by MoonlightLace



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Cooking, Family, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 19:03:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17431766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightLace/pseuds/MoonlightLace
Summary: Dick Grayson and Jason Todd embark to Milwaukee to investigate a murderer who is targeting Dicks circus family. He leaves Kory in charge of Rachel and Gar. Who knows what kind of mischievous fun the three will conjure up.





	When You're Gone

“Milwaukee?!” Rachel and Gar exclaimed in unison.

 

“It will only be a few days. Tops.” Dick faced the couch where Kory, Rachel, and Gar were sitting. Jason had made his way to the kitchen for a quick snack, not wanting to be apart of the conversation. 

 

“So you’re leaving? Again” Rachel crossed her arms in disbelief. “We just got here.”

 

“Some people I knew were killed. I need to stop the killer before it's too late.” Dick walked over to Rachel and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I’ll come back. I promise.”

 

“Is Kory going with you?” Garth asked him, nodding towards her. 

 

“No I am not. I’m staying here with you two.” smiled Kory. “Besides this is something Dick can do on his own.”

 

Rachel’s eyes met Dick. There was a flash of determination in his eyes and she knew this seemed important to him. After knowing Dick for a week, he did leave her a few time, but he kept coming back. She knew that he’d come back after Milwaukee too. It just took her for surprise that he was leaving so soon.

 

Anyways, she would be safe with Kory around. Her ability to manipulate the sun made her a hard target to stop. She trusted her with her life. And it would be nice to have some time to breathe. She could take a bath, and watch tv. She could be a teenager who wasn’t on the run.

 

Dick got up from the couch, grabbed his jacket and suitcase. “I’ll keep you guys updated.” 

 

Jason walked back from the kitchen, grabbed his suitcase. “I’ll drive.” He twirled the keys in his hand, waved to the team on the couch, and made his way to the garage downstairs.

 

“Behave you two.” Dick said to Gar and Rachel. He walked towards the elevators, and as the doors opened, he felt Kory standing behind him.

 

“Let me walk you out.” She said, getting into the elevator with him. She pressed the button, and they moved their way downstairs. “So you already have a lead on the killer?” she asked him curiously.

 

“Not the killer, but I do know someone who could be the next victim.” He said. “Are you going to be ok with them?” He nodded upwards, indicating he was talking about the kids.

 

“Oh yeah, we’ll be fine. Rachel might be a bit upset, but I think she understands this is important to you.” 

 

The doors opened with a ding and they both walked out into the garage. “Call me if you need anything.” He faced her. “ I mean it Kory.”

 

“I know how to keep them safe.” She said. “You be careful out there” 

 

They both stood there unsure if they should hug or not. But both jumped when they heard the horn from the car. They turned to see Jason waving at them with a mischievous grin.

 

“Be safe Dick.” Kory gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked towards the elevator. The doors closed and the last thing she saw was Dicks bright smile, and his hand lingering in the spot where Kory’s lips brushed them.

 

As she got off the elevator the first words she heard were “I’m hungry” 

 

“Kory could we order pizza?” Gar said running up to her.

 

“Didn’t we eat that last night?” Kory responded.

 

“Yeah but we’re in Chicago. They have the best pizza here.” Rachel argued.

 

“What makes it so special?” Kory furrowed her brows in confusion.

 

“Its deep dish.” Gar tried explaining to her. He told her that kinda like a pie. Warm and gooey, the crust being the important part. In the end, he won her over and they ordered their pizza, which got there a little over an hour.

 

“That took too long, this better be worth it.” Kory said after locking the front door, the box of pizza in one hand.

 

Rachel had already set the table and began to place the slices of pizza on the plates. Kory sat at the head of the table, each kid sitting beside her. They both looked at her with eager eyes. She caught on that they wanted to see her reaction after taking a bite out of her first deep dish pizza. As she bit into the tomato sauce topped slice, her eyes widened. When she was done chewing all she could muster was “Wow.”

 

“See? We told you!” Gar pumped his fist to the air with excitement.

 

“Alright, you two win this round.” Kory laughed, wiping her mouth with a napkin. 

 

After finishing eating their pizza, they placed the dishes into the dishwasher, and then made their way into the living room. Kory took a seat in front of the tv, Gar and Rachel sat on either side of her. 

 

Gar was in control of the remote and had stumbled onto  _ The Shining. _ “How do we feel about watching a horror film tonight?” Rachel and Kory just shrugged. “That’s a yes then.”

 

Rachel and Gar snuggled into Kory. She just laughed, and wrapped her arm around them. She felt cozy with them, and soon began to nod off.

 

Kory jerked awake, and noticed it was already one am. The tv was still on, but Rachel and Gar were asleep at her sides. “Gar... Rachel.” Kory whispered, trying to get up. Gars eyes fluttered opened. “Go to bed.” She told him, he got up and made his way upstairs. She tapped Rachels shoulder, but she continued sleeping. 

 

She didn’t want her sleep down here, so she carried her up the stairs. Kory found an open room on the third floor and placed Rachel gently on the bed. She was about to close the door on her when she heard Rachel whisper “no..noo.. mom..” 

 

“Rachel.” Kory said, returning to her bedside, gently rubbing her back. The sound of her voice visibly relaxed Rachel. Her face unscrunched and she just turned her body on the bed. Kory stroked her forehead and whispered goodnight before closing the door and doing one last perimeter sweep.

 

***

 

Kory woke up to the smell of coffee and the fire alarm blasting downstairs. She jolted out of bed immediately afraid that something bad had happened.

 

“Morning.” Gar and Rachel yelled over the fire alarm. Rachel was waving a placemat in front of the fire alarm as if it was the most normal thing to be doing at 10 am.

 

“What are you two doing?” She yelled, just as the fire alarm stopped beeping.

 

“Breakfast.” Gar said, placing the eggs on the plates. “We wanted to surprise you.” 

 

“Gar just burned toast, that's why the alarm went off.” Rachel poured orange juice into three cups and placed them on table.

 

“Yeah well you burned the first batch of eggs.” He opened a nearby window, letting the smoke out.

 

Kory couldn’t help but laugh. She had seen these kids fight off the nuclear family a few nights ago, and now they were fighting about who burnt what food. It made her a little sad knowing that this was as close to normal they have gotten to in the past week. “Alright you two, lets eat before this gets cold.” She called their attention back to breakfast.

 

“So what’s on today’s agenda?” Gar asked scooping eggs into his mouth.

 

“We could go to the Art Institute, or the Museum of Science and Industry!” Rachel exclaimed, sipping her orange juice.

 

“Or the Bean! Or Navy Pier!” Gar continued.

 

Kory placed her coffee down. “As much as I would love to play tourist in Chicago, you know we can’t do any of those things.” She felt bad having to burst their bubble. But there was no way she was going to risk their lives, and potentially the lives of others just for a fun day out. 

Even if the nuclear family was gone, the organization that worked for Rachel’s dad was still at large. They could be anywhere. 

 

Rachel and Gar grew silent, knowing that she was right. They stared at each other and finished breakfast quietly.

 

After Kory volunteered to wash the dishes, they all sat down in front of the tv again, not sure what they’re supposed to be doing. 

 

“I’m going to go check on Dr. Adamson” Kory stood up. He was still unconscious on the bathroom floor. She could see him breathing. “Good enough for me.” She whispered and returned to the living room. 

 

“Bet you can’t catch me!” Rachel yelled, just barely dodging the pillow thrown at her. 

 

“Oh you’ll see!” Gar threw a pillow, which hit the tv behind him, therefore losing some thrust. The pillow was caught by Kory.

 

“I leave you alone for one minute...” She trails off. 

 

“Come on Kory, there isn’t much for us to do here” Gar plopped on top of the couch.

 

“There must be something we can do.” Kory said. “What do you guys do when you’re bored?”

 

“Eat” Gar replied, “Read” Rachel said in at the same time.

 

“Ok, we can work with that.” Kory began to think of something that could bring both pass times together.

 

“Why don’t we bake?” Rachel volunteered.

 

“YES! CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!” Gar hooted. He and Rachel both bolted towards the kitchen. They began to look through the pantry pulling out flour, sugar, brown sugar.

 

“Here are some chocolate chips.” Rachel said, after fumbling through the cupboards. “They really do have everything stocked here.”

 

“Usually the bag of chocolate chips have a recipe on them.” Gar pointed out “Oh we need eggs and butter.” He pulled both out of the fridge.

 

“The butter needs to be softened.” Rachel grabbed the butter and placed them in the microwave. She put 5 seconds, and turned them around and added another 5 seconds. 

 

Just then Kory’s phone began to ring. “One second” She told the kids who had begun to stir the butter and sugar into a bowl.  She walked into the hallway away from earshot. Her heart fluttered a bit as she saw Dicks name on her screen. 

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey”

 

“Hi”

 

“I’m on my way home.”

 

_ Home,  _ she liked the way he said that. 

 

“That was quick. How’d it go?”

 

Dick sighed into the phone “It was alright. I was able to stop the killer from taking a life. Jason helped...” He trailed off.

 

“Is he with you?” 

 

“No, he’s on his way back to Gotham.”

 

Kory released her breathe that she didn’t know she was holding. Was it selfish that she wanted only him to come back. 

 

“How are they?” Dick asked, breaking Kory’s thought.

 

“They’re doing really well for being cooped up in a beautiful city such as Chicago.”

 

“I know this must be hard on them, and you but once this is all sorted out maybe we can-” 

 

“KORY CAN YOU PREHEAT THE OVEN?!” Gar and Rachel yelled from the kitchen

 

“Preheat the oven?” Dick asked with a small chuckle.

 

“You’re in for a surprise.” She smiled into the receiver. “Get home safe.” She said and hung up. She made her way into the kitchen and preheated the oven for them. As the kids finished making the dough Kory fumbled with a record player in the corner of the living room. The sound of rock music began to play around the house.

 

Kory helped placed the cookie sheets into the oven for 12 minutes. It was the longest 12 minutes of her life. All three of them stood watching the cookies bake in front of them. The waft of them lingering all over the house. Just as the oven began to beep, the elevator doors opened.

 

“Dick!” Rachel yelled running towards him and launching into a hug. 

 

“Hey Rach.” He dropped his bag and walked back into the kitchen where Gar and Kory were placing the cookies on the counter for them to cool.

 

“Hey stranger.” Kory said walking towards him. 

 

“I should leave more often if you guys will make cookies everytime I come home.” Dick laughed as Kory lightly smacked his arm.

 

“Can I eat them now?” Gar said, his eyes glued on the three dozen cookies that had just come out of the oven.

 

“Yes, but don’t burn yourself.” Kory snickered. Gar and Rachel wolfed down their first cookie, and then their second.

 

Dick reached for Korys hand as they stared watching the kids eat cookies. “ You did good, for being cooped up in a beautiful city such as Chicago.”

 

“Don’t sound so surprised.” She looped her fingers through his. With her free hand she placed the cookie she had snatched in her mouth. 

 

“I’m not. I trust you with them. That’s why I felt comfortable leaving them with you.” His eyes met hers.

 

Kory then heard the mumbling coming from the bathroom. “He’s awake.” she let go of his hand.

 

“Let’s go see what the doctor wants.” Dick said.

  
  



End file.
